Tales of the Afterlife
by RayQueen
Summary: Even witches and wizards die, J.K.R told us that much. But what happens to them when they get to the other side? This is a collection of one-shots about our favourite characters' lives after death. Hope you enjoy them.
1. As Mundane As Possible - Sirius

Written for the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry Term 12 - Gryffindor House

Challenges listed below

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The very last thing Sirius remembered doing was falling. It felt like it would never end. If he had to guess, he would say that he had been falling for approximately 2 weeks now. He was wrong, of course. He had been falling for a few hours only. Who said it was a short path to the afterlife?

Sirius let out a humourless laugh. He had been falling, so that meant his horrible mother had been right. He was going straight to Hell, a place he thought didn't even exist. He felt his body slow down, until he completely stopped falling hovering two feet up in the air. And then gravity took over all at once and he met the ground with a _thump_.

He got up, still unable to make out a single coherent thought and looked around. It definitely didn't look like Hell. In fact, it looked oddly familiar. Right in front of him was a cottage he had visited almost every single day since he left Hogwarts and before he went to Azkaban. Godric's Hollow, bathed in a silver glow. Before he could make out what that meant, the door slammed opened and a 21-year-old raven-haired man came running out, throwing himself at Sirius.

"For Godric's sake, Pads. You look terrible," said James with his legs wrapped around Sirius' waist and arms around the man's neck. They did that all the time during Hogwarts. They would see each other walking the halls, run and jump, attaching themselves koala-style to the other one.

Sirius blinked twice to recover from the shock and convince himself that it was really James Potter who had attacked him and whom he was holding onto for dear life (or death?). When he did, the only thing that came out of his mouth was "You live in the same house. Why do you live in the same house?"

James laughed, getting down, and took a step aside so Sirius could see the cottage better.

"What? You wanted me to live in the Grimmauld Place?" Sirius winced. "Yeah, I thought so. Everything here is what you want it to be. Lily wanted the house, since we didn't get to spend much time there before we, y'know, died."

"Wait… Everything?"

"Yes, my dear Padfoot." James grew a beard right before Sirius' eyes. "C'mon now. I know you didn't want to look like you've been trampled by a Hippogriff."

"Fourteen years and Lily still wasn't able to teach you manners." Sirius shook his head mockingly. "Hold on, what do I look like?"

"A git," said a female voice, coming from the cottage window, where a beautiful redhead lent on the windowsill smiling. "A 22-year-old git."

"But why 22?"

"Beats me, honestly. I guess they choose the moment we peaked in life," mocked Lily.

"C'mon, Pet. You know I never peaked. I was always at the top. Prongs, on the other hand…"

"In case you were wondering, I am, by definition, the best version of myself, thank you very much."

As Lily laughed, Sirius froze. The mundaneness of it all dawning on him. There he was, talking to his two best friends like nothing had changed, making fun of each other like not even a week had gone by, and yet everything was different. They were dead. All three of them had died trying to save Harry.

"Harry," Sirius whispered. "Prongs, where's Harry? We were fighting some Death Eaters and…"

"Pads, breathe," said James soothingly running his hand through his friend's back, as soon as he noticed his speech picking up speed. "Harry is fine. Heartbroken over losing his Godfather, but he's fine. Now come, let's get inside."

Sirius let out a breath and followed James towards the house. There was so much he wanted to ask, so much he wanted to do, but the only thing he could do was watch Lily and James Potter inside their cottage just like he did all those years ago.

"Okay, I have a question. Aren't you bored out of your minds here? It doesn't look like there's much to do."

"Are you kidding me? Have you met my husband?" Lily shot James an accusatory look. "Sometimes I wish I could be bored and just sit down to watch Harry 24/7, but James insists that our son needs his privacy, so he only lets us watch it a couple of hours a day."

"And what do you do with the rest of it?"

"It depends. He spent two years turning me into the greatest Seeker the afterlife has ever seen, then we decided to build Marlene's house from scratch. We decorated it. We redecorated ours. We started a garden, we got another cat, we started trying to cook fancy recipes and make different drinks. Oh, you should see the recipe books they have here, Cubs. It goes on forever."

Sirius eyes watered. He couldn't decide if it was the thought of them having a happy afterlife together, or Marlene being there with them, or Lily calling him Cubs. No one else called him that, except for her. She started right after she found out how much of a monster his mother was and decided that, from then on, she was going to be his mum.

"Speaking of her, weren't we supposed to go over to her place for dinner tonight?"

"Yes, we were," said the redhead kissing her husband on the cheek. "I'll just let her know that we're bringing Sirius over."

Lily took her right hand to her mouth, like she was telling a secret to no one in particular and said "Hey, Marly. Sirius just got here. We're bringing him over. Hope you made enough food this time."

"The winds carry our messages here," explained James, watching Sirius tilt his head in confusion.

"Okay, that is quite the odd way to communi-"

"BLACK DIED? YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!" Marlene's voice came from nowhere, followed by a loud laugh. "_The Sirius Black_, the one who liked to say he was immortal? Please, bring him over right now. I need to see this with my very own eyes."

Sirius rolled his eyes. Marlene hadn't changed a bit, apparently. What was it with the afterlife and people remaining their immature young-adult selves? He looked over at a grinning James with his arm wrapped around Lily's shoulders and decided that whatever it was, he liked it.

"Are we going to keep Marlene waiting? She is on her 187th cake of that book and will most definitely kill us if we're late," chimed Lily, dragging her boys by the hands towards the door.

Sirius smiled. He never thought he would be so glad to die.

"Huh, I guess Dumbledore was right, then."

"Dumbledore? What are on about, Pads?"

"Isn't he the one who says that death may be the greatest of all human blessings?"

"Morbid." Lily made a face at him. "And no, he says that it is an adventure or something. Socrates is the one who talks about the blessing. Why? Feeling pretty blessed right now, Cubs?"

"Actually, yes," he replied, kissing the top of her head. "Very much so."

* * *

Word count: 1194

Challenges:

_**Writing Club March**_

**Character Appreciation - #12 **Dialogue: "In case you were wondering, I am, by definition, the best version of myself." **(Bonus)**

**Show Time** \- #22 Working My Way Back to You – (food) Cake

**Amber's Attic - **#29 (color) silver

**Liza's Loves** \- #12 Raspberry Diva - Write about Sirius Black

**Lizzy's Loft - **#26(genre) Friendship

**Scamander's Case** \- #7 (word) immortal

**Film Festival** \- #19 (word) friend

_**Insane Prompt Challenge**_

#705 – Quote – "Death may be the greatest of all human blessings" - Socrates

**_Seasonal Winter Challenge_**

**Days of the Year - **January 1st - New Year's Day: Write about a new beginning.

**Colours -** #6 Silver

**Slytherin Challenge** \- #49. Fraternal

**History of Winter **\- #4. Prompt: Write about losing something in order to gain something else.


	2. Not You Again - Minerva McGonagall

**Written for the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry Term 12 - Gryffindor House**

**Challenges listed below**

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"Oh, no. Not a great start," Minerva mumbled to herself as she saw the group moving closer to her. She would recognize those 6 people anywhere. If anything, they made her life real interesting while she was a Transfiguration professor at Hogwarts. James, Lily, Sirius, Remus, Nymphadora and Fred. All of them, in their own way, made their way into her heart and her head, giving her premature grey hair.

"Minnie," called out Sirius. "Welcome to the Other Side. How do you find everything?"

"It looks so…" she trailed off, looking for the right word to describe it. She was at a loss for words. They had had ghosts in Hogwarts all right, but even they didn't know what the afterlife was like, because they decided not to go there. And now that she was seeing it, there was only one word to describe it. "Normal."

"Define normal, Professor," asked Lily looking over at the five troublemakers that she hung out with. "If you mean 'Hogwarts normal', as in all of these sweet kids wreaking havoc on everyone that arrives, you are absolutely correct."

"Just the five of them, Miss Evans?" James cleared his throat. "Sorry. _Mrs. Potter._" The man smiled. "If I recall correctly, you did your fair share of havoc wreaking during your time at school, as well."

Lily blushed. Forty years and she couldn't bear to get called out on the things she did. She knew pretty well that she wasn't a saint and took great pride in that, but she wanted to be just good enough to not get caught. She should have known that nothing ever escaped Minerva McGonagall.

"And she continues to do so, Minnie," winked James. "Just last week she trained Hedwig to…"

"OKAY!" Lily cut him off before he could say anything to embarrass her further. "Let's show the Professor everything we have here and all the options to leave if she wants to."

"Wait… Leave?"

"Yeah, you didn't think we would be here forever, did you?" asked Remus raising an eyebrow. "Just imagine how boring that would be. I would rekill myself if I had to see James's and Sirius's faces for all eternity."

James and Sirius tackled their friend and starting messing up his hair, while the wives and their new fourth member just laughed.

"I guess I never thought about this part. So, why are you still here?"

"Waiting for Harry, of course. Well, James, Sirius and I are, at least." Lily shrugged. "Remus and Dora are waiting for Teddy and Fred is waiting for his family. After we see them all and spend some time with them, we're free to take the next steps."

"And what are they?"

"Come, Minnie," smiled the redheaded boy. "We'll show you." Fred extended his arm to the Professor, who took it gladly.

Minerva would have never, in a million years, imagined that she would be greeted by James and Lily Potter, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, Nymphadora Tonks and Fred Weasley when she died and be happy about it. Mostly because she didn't like to imagine outliving her students, but also because of all the sleepless nights those kids had put her through. And, if she was being honest, she couldn't wait to see what they were up to on this side of the veil as well.

* * *

_Word Count: 554_

**Challenges**

**Writing Club - March**

**Character Appreciation** \- #19 Dialogue: "Oh no, not a great start."

**Showtime** \- #25 Who Loves You – (color) Grey

**Liza's Loves** \- #10 Red Beacon - Write about a Gryffindor

**Insane House Challenge #216 – Dialogue: "Define normal."**


	3. It Takes Time - Sirius and Regulus

_**Written for the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry (Challenges and Assignments) Term 12**_

_**Challenges listed below**_

_Word Count – 1473_

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"Sirius, what in Godric's name are you doing on top of a tree? It's only you second day here, for Merlin's sake. How are you already bored?"

"I just wanted an apple, Pet. Calm down."

"And you had to go all the way up there for an _apple_? Are you insane?"

Sirius turned around to face an exasperated Lily and even before he could open his mouth to answer, a teenaged male voice cut him off.

"Why do you sound so surprised? Insanity runs in my family. It practically gallops."

Sirius nearly lost his footing and fell on his butt to the ground at the surprise. He gripped the nearest branch to regain his balance. He was sure he wasn`t going to die because of it, but he wasn`t in the mood to find out how much pain you could be in in the afterlife.

Looking at his brother`s face, Sirius didn`t know how to feel. He wanted to yell at him, punch him, hug him, jump on top of him. All at the same time, if possible. But he just stood there, mouth a little agape and eyes scanning every inch of Regulus's face. His state of stupor only subsided when he heard Lily's laugh and, glancing in her direction, he saw James standing by his wife's side.

"What's wrong, Pads? Can't come down?" James teased him. "I thought only cats got stuck on trees."

"Oh, bugger off." With a few swift movements, Sirius got down from the highest branch of the tree he was on with an apple in hand. "Can anybody explain what's happening here?"

Regulus smiled and showed the dimples that made him look like the carefree young child he used to be. The sun illuminated his hair making it a lighter shade and lifting a heaviness that the signature Black dark hair cast upon the boy. Sirius's younger brother looked just like that. Younger, carefree. Sirius didn't know how to react to that.

"Hello, brother," said Regulus. "Long time no see."

Sirius blinked and looked over at James, who smiled encouragingly. "Well, you two have a lot of catching up to do. Lily and I are going to go inside–"

"What? Why?"

"Because this is a personal conversation," said James looking like he was trying to explain something really obvious to his wife. "They need privacy. Now can I please finish my sentence."

"Uh, fine," Lily grunted. "It's not like I've been waiting for this moment since I _died_, but go ahead. Finish the sentence that's going to drag me out of here."

"As I was saying, before my lovely wife–who is definitely not projecting–interrupted me," Lily smacked his arm, "We are going to go inside and bake some cookies while you enjoy the sun and your talk. Let's go, love."

Lily followed James begrudgingly into the house. Sirius knew why. If he could make peace with his estranged brother here, that meant there was still hope for Lily and her sister in the future. She wanted to be around to see how it happened and make sure that it did.

Sirius and Regulus stared at each other for a while, before Regulus broke the silence.

"Look, I know how this looks. Let me explain everything from the beginning. It's time I told you my story." And that he did. Regulus told exactly what happened before he died, how he tried to stop Voldemort from ever winning, the very moment he realized that he had to do something to end his reign of terror. Sirius felt his own heart shatter at his brother's words, but he was not ready to give up on his upper hand yet.

"Are you not going to say anything?" urged Regulus, once he finished and Sirius kept quiet.

"I'm waiting for you to apologize."

"Excuse me?" Regulus stared at his brother; head tilted to the side.

"You heard me," said Sirius defiantly crossing his arms.

"What exactly do you want me to apologize for? I died trying to stop him. I reckon that I have already earned my redemption."

"You can apologize for staying on our parents' side all those years."

"Just because I didn't leave? That doesn't mean I was on their side, Sirius! If you think it was hard being the prodigal son, then try being the perfect one!" Regulus' voice rose. "I was constantly walking on eggshells around them, thinking at least twice before saying anything and having to join a group that I absolutely despised!"

"You could have left, Regulus! Like I did. With me! How many times have I asked you to do it?"

"I was not like you, Sirius! I was not like your friends and I certainly was not like our parents, but they were the only thing I had." Sirius opened his mouth to protest, but Regulus raised a hand to stop him. "I know I also had you, but it's different. You were sixteen when you left. I was fourteen. A scared fourteen-year-old boy who saw his brother get hit by Unforgivable Curses more often than not. I was not born to be brave, Sirius. The only time I tried, I bloody died!"

Sirius couldn't contain his laughter. Regulus was absolutely exasperated and that was not something Sirius had ever seen before. From a very young age, Regulus Black had been a calm and collected child, the complete opposite of his older brother. His nose was always in a book, he listened to nothing but classical music and his most rebellious act had been making the Sorting Hat take longer than 10 seconds to place him in Slytherin. Could Sirius really blame his little brother for staying behind? Could he blame Regulus for sticking with his family, having been told his whole life that blood was the most important bond? Regulus didn't have a James or a Remus. Hell, he didn't even have a Peter, and although Sirius would give everything right now to squeeze the rat's neck until his eyes popped out, Peter was a big part of his teenage years, and a really good one.

"Listen, if I was such a horrible person, then why am I here? With you, James, and Lily? Don't you think that I would have been sent somewhere, I don't know, worse?"

"I don't understand any of this, Reg." Sirius sat down by the pond and held his knees to his chest.

"I don't either," admitted Regulus in a whisper, sitting by his brother's side. "When I first got here and I saw Lily and James, I thought that I had landed in the wrong place. I thought that I didn't belong here with them, and to be honest, I still don't think I do. They talked to me, Sirius, for weeks on end. Convinced me to wait for you so we could talk, so I did."

Sirius looked at him. "You were going to leave without talking to me?"

"I was ashamed. I let you go, I let you be tortured by our parents, I joined Voldemort's followers. I didn't think I could face you. You were brave, fought for the right side from the very beginning, you defied our parents. You were true to yourself. I could never compare."

"I guess both of us thought the other had gotten the long end of the stick."

"When in reality, they were both tiny from the very beginning," Regulus said in a small voice.

Sirius took a deep breath. He didn't want to think about that at all, specially not after all those years, but the question came out before he could stop it.

"Do you know where mum and dad are?"

"Somewhere else, I reckon. I mean, whoever engineered this wouldn't just leave people like us with people like them. Can you imagine? We die fighting Voldemort only to run into him here and have it all start over? What a bloody nightmare that would be."

Sirius raised an eyebrow. Regulus did have a point, but he couldn't understand a damn thing about this whole Afterlife situation. "Then where are they?"

"No idea," the boy shrugged. "Can't say I'm disappointed, though."

"Huh. Yeah. Me neither."

The silence that followed was not an awkward one, but it was not entirely comfortable either. They knew they would have to adjust being around each other again, trusting each other. They knew the love had always been there, but they had missed so much during the time they had spent apart. Sirius looked over at Regulus, who picked up a rock from the side of the river and examined it. They had a lot to talk and decide, but at that moment Sirius was happy just skipping stones under the warm sun with his given brother while his chosen one helped Lily bake them all some cookies.

* * *

_**Hogwarts: Assignment #10**_

Healer Studies - Task #2 – Write about repairing something that is broken.

_**Insane House Challenge: **_#225 - Dialogue – Insanity runs in my family. It practically gallops.

_**Writing Club May**_

**Character Appreciation** \- #27. Look. I know how this looks. Let me explain everything from the beginning.

**Bingo **– 3.B. Emotion: Surprise

**Elizabeth's Empire** \- #16. (character) Sirius Black

**Liza's Loves** \- #11. Find the Path - Write about someone who is lost/stops being lost

**Scamander's Case **\- #9. (character) James Potter I

_**Geek Pride**_

**54\. Supernatural **– Write about brothers.

_**May Fortnightly Challenges**_

**Choose a Side -** Jedi.#2. (genre) family

**International Workers Day – Rosa Luxemburg **[Trait] Rebellious** / Shopkeeper** [Word] Want

_**Gobstones Club**_

**Grey Stone** – Reunion

**Accuracy** – (word) shatter

**Power** – (weather) sunny

**Technique** \- (dialogue) "Can I please finish my sentence?"


	4. Now what? - Remus and Nymphadora

_**Written for the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry (Challenges and Assignments) Term 13 **_

_**Additional challenges listed below**_

_Word Count - 992_

* * *

"It has certainly been busy here today, hasn't it?" said a familiar voice somewhere around Remus.

"Well, there is a full-blown war happening in the land of the living right now, so expect more people," replied a female voice.

"What are we going to do, Petal? There are too many of them and not enough of us," asked Sirius. Yes, that was definitely Sirius' voice. And Petal? Sirius used to call Lily that.

Remus was sure that was a dream of some sorts. He was probably in the infirmary somewhere, or St. Mungo's. There wasn't another explanation for what these voices other than that, because Sirius and Lily were dead, and Remus was…

Remus' eyes snapped open and he regretted it immediately. The light shone bright around him and it stung his eyes. A cascade of red hair almost on top of him was the only thing he could see, before he squinted. Remus didn't need to wait for the green eyes to appear or the face to take shape. He knew that hovering over him was Lily Potter.

"Hey, Remus," she spoke softly, undoubtedly trying not to scare him.

"Moony is up?!" Sirius was not so considerate. "Yo, Prongs! Moony is up!"

As Remus tried to sit down and make sense of everything – rather, _everyone_ – he was seeing, he heard quick footsteps approaching them. Lily supported his back with one hand, and ran the other up and down his arm in a soothing motion.

"Hey, mate. Nice to see you again." James shot him a smile.

Remus felt like crying when it finally dawned on him. Happy and sad tears welled up in his eyes and his breath caught in his throat. Breath? Did he even breathe anymore? He was dead. So was James, Sirius and Lily.

He looked past the familiar faces and examined the other people around. Marlene was there, and a boy that kind of looked like Sirius. And Fred Weasley. Oh, poor Molly. She must be devastated now. Remus also recognized some of the faces from the students he taught during his year at Hogwarts. It was a lot to process at once, so he chose to focus on the good things first. He was surrounded by his friends again. He opened a crooked smile and that was enough for the three of them to jump on top of him.

Remus basked in their warmth and scent. It was all so familiar and his heart was filled with love and happiness. It was like coming home. He felt full, carefree and young again. Until he saw the head of pink hair to his left.

Dora looked as lost as he felt when he first opened his eyes in this new reality. He wanted to go hug her, but he was too angry to do that. He slowly untangled himself from his friends and got up at once. He was not mad at her for dying. He couldn't be. It wasn't her fault. He was angry at the Death Eaters that had made his little boy an orphan.

Remus let out an animalistic growl as he kicked the trunk of a tree repeatedly, drawing all eyes to him. He didn't care. His baby, his Teddy, was going to grow up without a mum or a dad and he was _angry_.

"Remus," Dora called, as she wrapped her arms around his waist. "It will be okay. Teddy will be fine."

Of course, she knew what he was thinking. She always did, and she was probably thinking the same thing.

"Dora, we won't be able to see him grow up." He buried his face in her hair and let the tears fall.

"Remus, if we may," Lily said, approaching them with Sirius and James by her side. "James and I had the exact same reaction when we arrived, I promise."

"Oh, no," James added. "You were a lot worse. No joke, I thought she was going to blow the whole place up. She was _fuming_. I really thought she was going to go back to life by the sheer power of the hatred running through her."

"Tone it down several notched, will you?" Lily scolded him.

"What? Are you going to tell me that you didn't destroy our house when you saw Sirius getting arrested? I'm sure that even the living heard you. Or when Snape was a prat to Harry when he first got to Hogwarts, did you or did you not break a window with your fist? Oh, what about when Vernon-"

"That's enough, thank you very much." Lily raised her hand to interrupt her husband. "I did do all those things, but you were not so good yourself, mister."

"Yeah, but I never said I was," James said cheekily, winking and kissing his wife on the forehead. "Don't worry, I thought you were really badass doing that. And sexy. Definitely sexy."

Remus felt a little smile creep on his lips.

"So, you did watch Harry grow up?"

"Of course, Remus. We can see everything. We try not to pry too much now that he's all grown up, but we were always watching him. Just like you and your wife can do with your son," Lily assured him.

"Well, now that that's out of the way," Sirius finally said, engulfing Dora in a hug. "We're twins! We were both murdered by Bella, how cool is that?"

Lily winced and hid her face in James' shoulder, Remus smacked his palm on his forehead and James only shook his head.

"Too soon, Pads. Too soon," James said.

Sirius had the decency of looking slightly ashamed for a second, but then Dora laughed and it was all over.

"You know," Lily said, looking around. "I think we should go greet our new neighbours."

As they walked towards the other new arrivals, Remus took Dora's hand in his and gave her a little smile. Teddy would be fine and so would they.

* * *

_**Insane House Challenge**_

#186 – Action: Kick something

_**August Auction**_

Day 30/ Auction 3 – Character: Remus Lupin


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